Evaluation Question 3

What Kind of Media Institution Might Distribute Your Media Product and Why? 

As we finish the pre-production of our film we can now gain an insight into the type of institution which would likely want distribute our product, and which distributor would best match the type of film we are producing, as well as targeting the correct target audience.

For our film, I believe it would beneficially to have a smaller, thriller focused distributor which has previously worked with independent film producers, such as ourselves, previously. Following this basic outline I found a number of institutions which may be a suitable match for the film we are producing, these are: Momentum Pictures, Altitude Film Distribution, Kaleidoscope Film Distribution, and Lions Gate UK. All of these institutions have previously produced films similar to ours, and are therefore likely to match or expectations for a distributor.

Momentum Pictures

On the one hand, Momentum Pictures appears to be an appropriate match for our film due to the fact that, prior to take over by Entertainment One, Momentum Pictures produced a number of films under the thriller genre; including large releases such as ‘The Woman in Black’ (2010) and ‘The Mechanic’ (2011) as well as number of slightly smaller releases in ‘Uwantme2killhim?’ (2013). Prior to the Entertainment One take over Momentum Pictures was thought of as ‘originally one of the leading independent motion picture distributors in the UK’, this is also in line with our own independent film and makes this particular institution more possible due to its pedigree. However, following its acquisition by Entertainment One and, as of 2015, relaunch under its own banner of ‘Momentum’ the films produce appear to be leaning further from the thriller genre, this is exemplified by its two theatrical releases of 2016 so far; ‘All Roads Lead to Rome’ and ‘Hard Sell’. This perhaps suggests that they may not be the best institution to produce a film of the thriller genre.

Kaleidoscope Film Distribution

 In contrast to momentum pictures new direction, Kaleidoscope Film Distribution produces a large number of thriller films, including some of their newest releases ‘Grasslands’ (2016) and ‘Belly of the Bulldog’ (2015), suggesting that they would be very experienced in distributing a thriller film such as ours. However, most of the films which Kaleidoscope distribute are of a separate subgenre to our own thriller film as Kaleidoscope commonly ‘lean’ towards the ‘science fiction’ and ‘zombielike’ films, clearly demonstrated by two films I previously mentioned, both of which heavily focus on their ‘zombie’ side.

Altitude Film Distribution

Although Altitude’s majority of films are biopics or artistically focused they have acted as distributors for a few films with the thriller genre in the UK – Narcopolis and Spooks – as well as a number of thrillers released in France and Belgium, showing that they are open to the production of films of our genre. Also, in contrast to Momentum pictures the independent films which are produced by Altitude have a fairly small budget, which is closer to the aims of our film as it is likely to have a much smaller budget than the films produced by the other companies I researched.

Lions Gate UK

Finally, Lions Gate is a comparatively large distribution company - in regards to the other institutions researched – and as a result produces much larger budget films, as well as a greater variety of films, including a large number of thriller films in our subgenre, such as; ‘London Has Fallen’ (2016) and ‘Trap for Cinderella’ (2013). However due to the size of their company it would be unrealistic to expect support from such a large company in for a small independent film such as ours.

Overall, I believe that the most appropriate distribution company for our independent crime action thriller film would be ‘Altitude Film Distribution’ due to is experience with similar films as ours in both genre and film ‘size’.